United News and Notes

Man, it's hot out there. As you can imagine, DCU training session did not last long. Half the team was absent anyway because of tonight's friendly at Richmond. (Few regulars will face the Kickers.)

Anyway.....

-- I asked Dave Kasper about the reports in the Bolivan media that veteran defender Juan Manuel Pena is possibly on his way to United. Kasper said the club had been contacted by Pena's representatives and, while DCU will keep an eye on him at Copa America, they have no interest at the moment.

-- Bobby Boswell injured his foot/leg in training today after getting "stomped" (his word) by Ben Olsen, but after a long treatment session, he said he would be fine for this weekend's match at Real Salt Lake. "I'm like the Wolverine -- I heal pretty quickly," he said.

-- Troy Perkins has joined Boswell, Olsen and Bryan Namoff on the preliminary list for possible Copa America selection. The deadline to submit Copa rosters is Thursday. I will have more on this subject later tonight on washingtonpost.com and in Wednesday's print editions.

-- Christian Gomez, who hurt his right foot in the second half on Saturday's victory over Chicago, trained today and although he said it hurts when he kicks, he expects to play at RSL.

-- Luciano Emilio was named MLS player of the week after his two-goal performance vs. Chicago. Olsen won it last week.

-- Kasali Yinka Casal has gone to Nigeria for under-20 training camp and, if he's selected for the World Cup final roster, he won't return to United for several weeks.

-- United officials want you to know that Peruvian legend Nene Cubillas and former Honduran star Gilberto Yearwood will be at RFK to meet and greet fans as part of the Latin American festival before the July 14 match against Dallas. Details to come...

Juan Manuel pena would be a great center defender. He has experience playing in spain for villareal, and is great for bolivia in the back as hes the most experience defender we have and depend on him to control the back line. His only down fall is hes somewhat injury prone.

Pena is 34 years old. Not sure how much money he would want. A lot of factors beyond a player's abilities go into a possible signing. Don't hold your breath on this one...

DCU officials never say who they are monitoring. All information that appears on the Insider or in the paper comes from sources outside the club. Teams rarely talk about possible targets -- business is business.

Emilio's first goal was very nice. His second goal was the easiest he will ever score in his life. Not sure why MLS does not put together a highlight package from HDNet matches.

I can see Bradley taking some of our guys to sort of "spread the pain" around MLS and to get some good will with other teams. But I think losing Olsen and Moreno for the leadership factor alone would seariously cripple the offense. I Rod and Guy can cover the position up front, but man, that would suck for on field leadership without Olsen. I think the other guys have heart, but Olsen and Moreno are the sould of DCU. With them both gone I think team chemistry will suffer as much as taking two of our best backline players. I think we are getting better at covering with team defending, but I hate to imagine no Perkins as well. Yikes! Imagine how it would feel to hand RSL their first victory this season!!!

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised Emilio won POTW. His first goal was indeed very nice -- he timed his run well to avoid the offside trap, then lifted a neat little floater over the advancing keep's (name is eluding me at the moment) head. The second goal was entirely of the "right place at the right time" variety.

My choice would have been Chivas' keep, Brad Guzan, for another stellar performance in net.

Pena, is a highly experienced defender who has played in la liga for close to if not 10 years of his career. He has been with villareal since 04, and was a starter for them when well, his only problem is he's injury prone. Hes a perfect defender to bring in for the superliga, and sudamericana given his experience. He could teach our Defense alot, and finish his career here, which IMO would be awsome!

Bradley can call whomever he likes for the Copa. Whether or not United will release them is a different story. I'd tell Bob he can only take one. Neither Bozilla or Namoff are really National Team quality defenders, and Perkins definitely hasn't played a strong enough season thus far to warrant a call up. Bennie is the only one I could see making a real impact on the Nats, and as much as I'd miss him, he's the only one I feel deserves the call-up.

Actually, I'd love to see Nene again. It's been 20+ years, and he's ALWAYS been a class act. He's one of those guys you never hear about, but he was probably one of the three best in the world in his day, and he spent a LOT of time here, coaching, teaching and being a hell of a role model.

There are quite a few guys from the NASL days who have stayed and made their livelihood by growing soccer here in the States. Without these guys, we'd be nowhere. As much stick as he gets around here, Rongen is one of those guys. Nene is another.

That "double touch" inside-out move is his. Dempsey loves that move. Christiano Ronaldo pulls that one out from time-to-time as well. Mind you, Nene's the only one I've seen who could pull that move back-to-back at full speed. It's one thing to do it at full speed. It's totally another to do it back-to-back. Doing it back-to-back, AT full speed? That'll tie any defender's legs in a knot.

"Bradley can call whomever he likes for the Copa. Whether or not United will release them is a different story."

Unfortunately this is not the case. I read somewhere (maybe SBI) that MLS owns all player contracts and released all players to Bradley to choose whomever he wants. Team owners have no say (but I am sure there is some wheeling and dealing going on).

totally unrelated to any of the above posts, but my niece was watching some crap disney channel sitcom and this kid had an old school d.c. united poster on his wall. all i could see was that eddie pope and goose were on it.